Conventional bone wax is a sterile beeswax preparation that can optionally include softening agents in combination with the beeswax to improve pliability. Conventional bone wax is commonly used as a hemostatic material to control local bleeding.
While conventional beeswax-based bone wax can be formed so as to exhibit acceptable pliability and adhesive qualities, problems exist with these materials. For instance, beeswax-based bone wax inhibits bone regeneration as well as bone fusion, as can be seen with reference to FIG. 1, which illustrates a transverse section of a sternal specimen two weeks following a sternotomy. The conventional bone wax, marked as W on the figure, can be seen at the non-union location of the specimen. As can be seen, conventional beeswax-based bone wax is not suitable for use in regions where osseous regeneration and/or fusion is desired. In addition, beeswax-based bone wax is not degradable and use can lead to foreign body reaction by the recipient. Also, studies have shown that there can be infection following application of beeswax-based bone wax. This is believed to be due at least in part to an impairment of the ability of cancellous bone to clear infectious agents such as bacteria due to the presence of the bone wax.
Accordingly, alternatives to and additives for conventional beeswax-based bone wax have been sought. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,717 to Fues, et al. describes a resorbable bone wax product produced using glycerol or glycerol partial esters that also includes salts of glycolic acid and/or lactic acid added to the wax. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0153528 to Levinson describes a hemostatic cationic biopolymer of glucosamine that can be formulated together with a sterile beeswax preparation.
While the above illustrate improvements in the art, room for additional improvement exists.